User blog comment:Cpt Crimson/DmC sales way lower than dmc4's/@comment-134861-20130203050602/@comment-976055-20130204191715

''...yes, I played DmC. Virtually every review will agree that Dante's championship of humanity came out of nowhere, and seems predicated on jumping Kat's bones. So don't write off what I said as me pulling it out of my ass. I also liked the gameplay itself, so don't dismiss my opinions as a "hater".''

Wow dude, it didn't come out of no where, and there is absolutely nothing that shows that Dante wants on Kat anywhere in the game. And when the developers say that Kat isn't a love interest it would obviously denote that Dante's actions aren't about getting in her pants :/ Now you're seeing shit that isn't there. I also haven't seen any reviews that have said something like what you claim about the story. Even then, it ignores all of the actual development he has in the game, opening up to Kat learning about her, and even realizing that he has a lot of potential and a greater meaning in life, between Eva reminding Dante that he has the freedom to choose what he will do, and Phineas' remarks of Nephilim having a lot of potential and reminding him that killing Mundus won't just stop evil forever, others will take his place (other demons, Mundus' heir, Vergil).

''There's nothing in the script to indicate that Sparda got caught on purpose -- only that he deliberately hid his kids. If you have a quote or something which I missed, bring it. Otherwise, he really should have done something once it became obvious to everyone else in the demon world that Dante was a Nephilim.''

I can't seem to find it, it may have been in something else to do with the game's development that I read...or...maybe it was from someone's translation of the Vergil comics. Can't remember now >.< Either way, Sparda was second only to Mundus in power, as he helped the guy become the Demon King over every other demon. That implies a lot of power, more than enough to subdue a couple of Drekavacs, which most likely means that he let himself be captured anyway. Just because the game doesn't explicitly throw in our faces how superbly powerful Sparda is like in the classics doesn't mean he wasn't in DmC - case in point, being Mundus' right hand man.

''Sparda didn't do a damn thing in DmC. He laid more groundwork in the classic series. That's really not arguable, although you can desire for him to have done more.''

He laid groundwork that ultimately ended up just being the same shit over and over again. In DmC, the least Sparda is known to have done is father Nephilim, which then puts the story more on Dante and Vergil, than "cleaning up daddy's mess" or whatever. I'm saying that DmC does a more intriguing job of making me care about Dante and Vergil, instead of just constantly harkening back to how Sparda is more important than them, and the only reason they're ever important is because people can use the brothers' legacy for their own gain. DmC decides to focus on the Nephilim twins themselves, which I like. I'm not denying that classic Sparda did stuff in the classics, I'm just saying that it never ended up being all that interesting, and detracted a lot from what Dante and Vergil were, because most people in the games only ever seemed to cared about their legacy (at least in my eyes). Mundus targeting Dante because he's a Nephilim (based on his race, and not his lineage) makes Dante the important one, not Sparda, and immediately builds the narrative with Dante at the center, instead of some lofty legendry about Sparda that Dante is just always dealing with.

''"A lot of places they could go with that" - Again, politics. The classic series focused on gothic horror. DmC is punk horror that by the admission of its creators, focuses on modern politics and punk style (I provided a link to an interview in the Rebellion article, if you want). This is starkly against legendry and mythos. Yes, there is potential for sequels, no, they won't be of the same kind of "according to prophecy" stuff that was in the classic series. Again, this is from the mouth of the creators.''

There's so many ways something can be done with "according to prophecy" stuff, and in fact, it was, with things regarding the Nephilim. There's also more than just Dante and Vergil, there was also Assiel, and plenty of other Nephilim they could talk about. And with demons visible in the real world now, and without a leader, there's so many places it could go.

''Sparda was barely mentioned in the anime, except for a few bits about Baul and Modeus. Dante got plenty of development there all on his own. DMC3 had -4- main characters, and only one of them cared about Dante or Vergil only as Sons of Sparda.''

The anime did very little in developing Dante from what I saw (it might have been just so boring I missed it, I dunno :/), and was just a subpar cash-in of the series using way too many anime tropes. I mean, come on...babysitting an annoying little girl, and doing the boring day-to-day grind work, ending with an "I'm dead! Only I've come back to kill you with my immense unlocked power and save the day~"

And I mentioned how Lady didn't care, but remeber that both Arkham and Vergil cared about Sparda's power and legacy. Vergil's whole shtick was trying to gain what Sparda left behind, just as Arkham did. And Dante, Dante just kept meeting all these demons who knew his father, and barely pay him any regard of his own until they're about to die. A lot of narrative time is spent regarding Dante as a Son of Sparda over just Dante. Lady was nice, because she didn't care (or even know) about his heritage, the only thing she cared about was that Dante was a demon and being consistently wary of him until after they fight.

''Nephilim: Exactly. It doesn't even matter what their lineage -is- anymore, now all the plot cares about is the DNA in Sparda's junk.''

That's what I'm friggin' talking about. They took the narrative off of the importance of Dante's paternity, and onto Dante's race, onto himself. I like that. It makes Dante seem like the important one, instead of him only being important because he was Sparda's kid. Ironically, classic Dante himself feels the same way, and that's one of the few reasons I'm okay with them consistently pulling that "Sparda's Legacy" stuff - because Dante himself is sick of it, too.

''"slowly learns" --- bull. Like most reviews have said, he goes from not giving a crap to suddenly caring about getting revenge in the space of one mission almost devoid of human interaction. His attacking Vergil and then declaring himself the champion of humanity (despite basically ignoring every human but Kat for the entire game) also comes about in one mission. Other games, like DMC3 or DMC1, show him coming to grips with Lady or his legacy or Trish over the course of at least several missions.''

Maybe quit listening to the reviews and actually pay attention to the damn game, guy. There's a discussion near the end of the game that Dante and Vergil have where they talk about how when they were younger they knew there was something more to themselves, but they couldn't figure it out, and it made them angry and frustrated. Vergil focused on his studies and programming, while Dante focused his anger on killing demons and promiscuity. When they unlock their memories they understand it all, they understand where their anger came from - the fact that their family was torn apart. Dante doesn't give a shit, but through the entirety of Home Truths, he starts to understand, and then in Bloodlines, he knows why and what they can do to get revenge. At that point, all Dante cared about was getting revenge, like he thought Vergil wanted too. Human interaction played no part in Home Truths because at that point the twin's intentions were personal revenge. Not until Dante starts to learn more about Kat through Under Watch and Virility does he start to realize that killing Mundus isn't just a benefit to him and his brother, but to humanity, who is also suffering.

Him "declaring himself the champion of humanity" isn't out of nowhere either, as I said before, by the time Dante confronts Mundus, he declares his actions were for the greater good of humanity's freedom, as well as for vengeance. Those intentions are well before Dante attacking Vergil, and was already sparked well before this with Phineas' remarks of who would take Mundus' place. Dante had come so far, and with the help of a human, learning that so many have suffered, that he can't just let his own brother fill Mundus' place, no matter how benevolent Vergil claims he'd be.

The entire game is about Dante turning from a hedonistic, self-centered punk and into that "champion of humanity," and he goes from uncaring, to wanting vengeance after learning how he was wronged, and then finally to caring about humanity as he learns how Kat and others have suffered just as much, if not more. Then by the end, he subdues his own brother, and warns him that if Vergil tries anything he'll have to go through Dante again - that's what "The world is under my protection now" means.

I don't see how Dante ignored humanity save for Kat to a point when we mostly only see him in Limbo, where he can only see Kat. He even cares about a fatty on the street enough to knock Virility out of his hand. Dante even goes through Barbas' prison in Overturn and sympathizes with the human souls trapped there, saying "You poor bastards...Hang in there!" before he gets attacked. But no...nope...there's totally no inclination that he's started to care about humans through those interactions and the things he learns about his friend Kat.

''-Vergil suddenly didn't care about Kat?- There is a huge difference between being willing to sacrifice one friend for the good of the world, and telling that friend that they are a worthless fly. Which is what happened with Vergil. And oddly, happened with Dante too, since he went from, let's say it again, not giving a crap about humanity's fate to all of a sudden being head over heels for Kat.''

The fact that Vergil in the end has little to say about Kat other than "Kat was useful" puts a whole new perspective on his disregard for her in the game up to that point. What normally looked like him making a sacrifice for the greater good suddenly seems incredibly different when you learn that Vergil himself had little regard for the humans he worked with. Vergil's willing sacrifices were all selfish, and he could make them so easily because he only thought Kat was "useful," despite how important she really was. We just don't get to see this right away because he's also playing Dante the whole time, and keeps trying to appeal to Dante's growing care for humanity to accept those sacrifices Vergil was selfishly making.

That's just good writing - making the audience see things one way, and then throwing them for a loop when more of the character's true intentions are divulged. If you're a writer, you may know these things, right? I dunno if you're wirter, but if you are, you might know :p

Ironically, even Phineas talks about seeing things in a different perspective :p

And I've already addressed Dante's care for humanity not coming out of nowhere :/

''Vergil's data -...the game explains why that data is vital, and why he had to erase it. Kat even agrees with him when Dante objects. If you're complaining about that, then I can't keep track of what side you're even on.''

Yes, the data is important, but it was pretty damn secure in both the real world and in Limbo. The point I'm making is that Vergil cared way more about something that was already particularly secure, instead of using his clearly immense Nephilim powers to protect the humans he worked with. Kat knows how important the data is, but is also willing to agree with Vergil because he had her trust. He's using the humans in The Order with little actual care for them beyond how helpful they are. He cared more about the information the humans had gathered than he did the humans that gathered it. Again, it's those small bits that suddenly look very different when Vergil shows his true colors. He's not willing to sacrifice humans for the greater good of humanity, he's willing to make sacrifices because humans are frail and weak, and are only useful in helping him attain his own goals. He appeals to everyone's humanity, even Kat's, in order to inadvertently overthrow Mundus so Vergil can take his place.

Dante on the other hand, cared about the humans he could, unfortunately, only watch die around him. And if he wanted to try and save The Order, he had to find Kat. Kat was Dante's friend, but also the only way for Dante to get out of Limbo and protect The Order's people. Sadly, it didn't play out like that, and Dante could only watch them be killed, but he wasn't about to let Kat, someone he knew personally, suffer the same fate. He was starting to care about the humans, but he still cared more about Kat. Hell, Dante even cared enough about the humans to not risk thousands of lives killing Mundus' child, which, inadvertently Vergil did anyway, because Vergil's a cold-hearted jerk who doesn't care about humans.

ANYway - this is getting way off-topic. The point I was making was that DmC Sparda isn't automatically some pushover just because there's no legend surrounding him. Especially when he has to have immense power considering he was second only to the Demon King Mundus.

And liking the gameplay is one thing, but the way it seems to me, you've been looking at the narrative subjectively to the point where you're looking over things that are there, passing it all off as bad writing no matter how it al might actually be.

But, whatever, I'm out.